Malcolm's Birthday Present
by Queen of Fairyland
Summary: A sixteen year old Malcolm is sent to counselling by his parents for his aquaphobia. Ironically it's the wait for the session which helps him the most. Part 3 posted. COMPLETE.
1. PART 1

**Ok this is a side story from a fic i did last year called Back To Normal (sequel to Skeletons) I don't think you have to have read them to read this, it pretty much stands alone. But if you like Jennifer, and want to see her future adventures with the Enterprise crew, go and have a read! (and review while you're there!)**

**The base of this fic was refered to in chapter 15 - 'Malcolm's Explanation',there was a sentence that said Malcolm's mother didn't approve of the present Jen gave him for his 17th birthday and i never explained what that was, so here it is.**

**Anyway on with the story! Hope you enjoy!**

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He didn't see why he had to go. It wasn't fair. He was afraid of drowning and that was that, no shrink was going to be able to do anything about it, this was a complete waste of time. But his father thought otherwise. 'How could Malcolm ever have a career in the navy if he was scared of the water?' he had asked. Easily enough solved Malcolm had thought, he just wouldn't go in the navy, but his father wouldn't hear of that. 

And so that was why a sultry sixteen year old Malcolm Reed was trudging down the street behind his mother, to Graceman's institution for the psychologically unstable in central London.

"Come on Malcolm do hurry up!" his mother turned round to scold him. Sighing, Malcolm picked up the pace to match hers and they were soon at their destination.

They made their way towards the elevator quickly, Malcolm matching his mothers brisk pace, it was almost as if she thought if they stayed in one place to long they might catch a mental disorder.

He shoved his hands in his pockets nervously as they neared his doctors office. When they reached the small waiting area outside Dr. Lieberman's office and the next door one, belonging to a Dr. Heather they stopped silently.

"Just go in when he calls your name Malcolm, I'm going to go and get a spot of lunch across the road, I never got round to eating anything before we left." She whispered, and before he could even respond that he hadn't either she had stepped in the elevator and was out of sight.

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time today he dropped into the nearest chair and began, out of boredom rather than obsessive neatness, picking bits of barely visible dirt off of his jumper.

After what felt like hours, but in reality was probably only a few minutes Malcolm heard footsteps coming closer. Then Malcolm heard a distinctly American voice say, "Do I really need an escort?" it was a female voice. Inwardly hoping the American girl wouldn't come and sit near him he looked back down and resumed his task.

"Really, I mean I'm _really_ beginning to enjoy these sessions I'm having." The girls voice echoed down the corridor. "Honestly, me and Heather have a _real_ good rapport goin' on, why would I try and get out of our wonderfully enlightenin' sessions together?"

Malcolm smiled to himself, and despite his reservations looked up as the girl entered the waiting room. She looked about his age, she had chocolate brown hair and dazzling green eyes. She was obviously a resident, dressed in bright white baggy trousers and a short sleeved white T-shirt she was being escorted by a nurse and an orderly. The orderly had her by the arm and the nurse held a clipboard in one arm and the girl's left arm in her other.

"That's excellent news Jennifer, I'm glad you are finally beginning to adjust to life here at Graceman's." the nurse said cheerfully, completely oblivious to the sarcasm underlying Jennifer's comments. Malcolm smirked as the girl rolled her eyes for his benefit. He watched as the orderly forced her into the seat opposite him and pulled out handcuffs and cuffed her right hand to the chair.

"Thank you ever so much Andrew." She said sweetly. "Much appreciated."

"We'll be back in an hour to collect you." The nurse said.

"Looking forward to it already!" Jennifer called as they left.

She pulled her legs up onto the chair and crossed them and leaned on her free arm and began to stare intensely at him.

"Hi!" She said brightly after about a minute. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Hello." He said hesitantly.

"Name, rank and serial number?" she smirked.

"Malcolm Reed."

"Jennifer James." She paused and studied him for a few seconds. "Outsider huh? Not as crazy as the rest of us?" The question seemed rhetorical so Malcolm remained silent.

"So what you in for then?" she asked. Malcolm hesitated, he didn't usually tell anyone, but then again who was she going to tell?

"Aquaphobia." She looked at him blank for a moment and then mouthed the word aqua.

"Afraid of water?"

"Drowning."

"Oh." There was a few moments of silence before she spoke again. "Go on then ask, you know you want to." She smiled at him.

"What are you 'in for'?" he asked.

"Suicidal." She said calmly. Malcolm stared at her for a few moments before he realised what he was doing and stopped.

"Why?" He asked bravely.

"I had a kid, she was gorgeous. But-" she paused, "but my Dad took her away, put her in care, he wouldn't let me go see here or even talk about her." She said quietly staring at the floor.

"Oh. I'm sorry." She smiled sadly at him. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" he asked, she didn't look old enough to be a mother.

"Sixteen, everyone asks me that when I tell them I have a kid."

They were silent for a long time after that. Malcolm kept checking the clock. Jennifer must have noticed because after a while she commented.

"They always run like twenty minutes over, what time is your appointment?" she asked.

"Five minutes ago."

"Mine too, we'll be waiting for like another fifteen minutes at least." She said and they lapsed into silence again.

"Soooooo, Malcolm." She paused thinking of a topic of conversation. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Malcolm smiled sourly, and before he knew it he was telling her all about his father and how he wanted Malcolm to join the navy, and how he didn't want to. _It felt good opening up_, Malcolm smiled, _and he hadn't even gone into the doctors office yet._

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**What do you think? Review with, postive, or negative comments I don't mind, as long as if it's negative it's constructive. (I typed this real quick so feel free to criticise my grammar, spelling etc.) So hit the little purple button and drop me a line! x x x**


	2. PART 2

"You really don't have to come with me mum." Malcolm told his mother a week later. "I'm old enough to come by myself, and I know the way." He said hopefully. She side glanced at him.

"An how would I know you were actually going?" she said.

"I wouldn't do that." Malcolm mumbled.

"We'll see." She said as they stepped into the elevator. "At least you won't have to sit by yourself today."

"I was fine, really." Malcolm said tiredly.

When the doors open they walked directly to the waiting area, which was empty. Mrs. Reed sat down elegantly and with perfect posture, and so she winced when her son slumped into the chair next to her and slapped his arm to get him to sit up straight. Scowling, Malcolm did so.

They sat there in a stifling silence for a long five minutes, until the door to Doctor Heather's office opened and a teenage girl with chocolate brown hair and dazzling green eyes came out.

She gave him a dazzling smile and mouthed 'hi' before she was dragged off down the corridor by an orderly. Malcolm watched her go. When he turned back round his mother was frowning at him.

"Who was that"? she asked. Malcolm just shrugged and silence fell once again

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A week later Malcolm Reed was making his way to Graceman's on his own, having finally convinced his mother to let him go on his own. Well it was his father who had won the argument for him really, when his mother had gone to Stuart Reed for backup it had backfired on her, as his only response had been "Don't molly coddle the boy, a little bit of independence is a good thing." And that was that. Malcolm was on his own. 

He stepped out of the elevator and walked leisurely down the corridor to the waiting room. Taking a few seconds to take in the boring cream painted walls and tiled floor. Do all medical institutions have to be the same mind-numbingly dull colour?

"Yes." Said a voice making Malcolm jump.

"Huh?" he said, as he sat down opposite her in the waiting room, confused as to what she meant.

"You said '_Do all medical institutions have to be the same mind-numbingly dull colour?' _and I said yes_" _she said putting on his British accent rather well.

"Oh, I didn't realise I said that out loud." He said slightly embarrassed, she grinned at him.

"Thought so." She said still smiling. "Soooo . . . where's your mum today?" she asked pulling her legs up onto the chair and crossing them.

"At home sulking probably." He said, when she raised an eyebrow inquisitively he elaborated. "I wanted to come on my own, she said no, but my father said it would be good to get some independence, or something of that sort."

"Ah. Well, I definitely think he's right there. I had independence from an early age and look where it got me; the best suite on the crazy ward." She said smiling bitterly, Malcolm smirked.

"Don't let my mother hear you, she might use it as an argument against me."

"Don't worry I don't we'll ever have an in-depth conversation, I doubt someone as . . . well-to-do and mentally healthy as your mother would engage in conversation with me." She said reassuringly. Malcolm raised his eyebrows and nodded slightly.

"So how's life treating you Malcolm?" she said cheerfully.

"Wonderfully." He said sarcastically.

"That's good then." She said feigning ignorance, he rolled his eyes.

"How about you?" he shot back.

"Oh much the same, wonderful. You know the most exciting thing happened yesterday, we had green jello, instead of the usual red. Some of the more excitable patients actually wet their pants, I'm telling you its non-stop fun around here." Malcolm laughed.

"I'm sure." He said still smiling slightly. "Sounds better than birthday shopping for your little sister." He grumbled. She laughed.

"Oh is it her birthday? Don't you know what to get her?" she asked.

"Yeah today actually. And it's not that I don't know what to get, she's told me exactly what she wants, now I just have to find it, among groups of crazy Saturday shoppers, ugh." He cringed, Jennifer laughed.

"I'd come with you, but I have a really busy day today."

"Right, of course."

"Hey Malcolm . . . didn't you say last week, that your sisters birthday was a week before yours?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah, why?" he asked suspiciously.

"No reason." She said quickly. Too quickly.

"Right." He said unconvinced.

Just then the door to Doctor Lieberman's office opened and Malcolm's name was called. He got up from his chair and walked towards the door.

"Bye Mal." Jennifer said smiling. "Happy birthday to your sister, good luck getting her present."

"Thanks. See you next week." He said. She smiled and nodded at him as he closed the door behind him.

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**Thanks for the reviews people!**

**Drakir -** here's some more for you!

**The Libran Iniquity** - thanks for the review, i know about the length, i just can't write a lot in one go, so i just post what i have, sorry, can't be helped, much anyways

**lieutenants-lady** - yeah i had the story in my head just had to write it down!

**HoVis -** thanks! i thought it was sweet too, malcolm's sappy at heart you see

**Okay please review and i'll update soon, so hit that lickle purple button and tell me what you thought! Thanks x x x**


	3. PART 3

"Mum said she'll come and pick you up, so she'll probably be waiting for you when you've finished." Madeline said to him. Malcolm nodded absently.

"I still can't believe you're going! It's your birthday Malcolm!" his sister exclaimed.

"It's not like I'm doing anything." He shrugged side glancing at her where she walked on his right.

"And that's another thing," she said gesturing at him with her hand "you're 17 today Malcolm! You should be doing something fun!" he smiled at her and shook his head.

"Maybe this is fun for me." He said simply.

"Riiiight." She said. "I'm sure it is."

"And even if it isn't me and Jen can always play eye-spy or something." He said sardonically.

"Eye-spy?" she said incredulously. "Hang on, who's Jen?" Malcolm grimaced. _Ooops. _Deciding denial was the way to go, he replied.

"Who's who?" he said distantly.

"_Jen_." Maddy said stressing the word. "You said, 'me and _Jen_ can always play eye-spy or something'. Who's Jen?" she asked again. Malcolm rolled his eyes and reluctantly answered.

"Just this girl at the hospital who has appointments the same time as me, next door." he said, attempting to speak dismissively. Madeline saw straight through her brother.

"So what's she like?" she asked innocently. Malcolm shrugged and didn't say anything. Madeline waited a few minutes, and sure enough he spoke up.

"She's American." Madeline raised her eyebrows at this, Malcolm had always seemed to take onboard everything their father had to say about Americans, 'slackers', 'crude', 'impolite', 'arrogant' blah blah blah, it was all crap of course, but he always seemed to listen when her father started one of his rants. "She's funny, you know sarcastic, and smart, and . . ."

"Pretty?" she asked innocently, Malcolm shoved her in the side. She laughed as she regained her balance. "Well, is she?" Malcolm just ignored her. Madeline rolled her eyes.

They continued walking in silence for a minute or two when they reached Graceman's Madeline turned to say goodbye to Malcolm when he spoke.

"She's beautiful." he said quickly before walking quickly running up the steps and through the double doors of the building.. Madeline smirked and shook her head, and made her way to the café round the corner to meet her friends.

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Malcolm walked leisurely out of the lift an down the corridor to the waiting room. He ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach when he noticed the waiting room was empty and sat down heavily in a seat opposite the doors to Dr. Lieberman's and Dr. Heather's offices.

Minutes passed that felt like hours. After running out of imaginary things to brush off of his jumper Malcolm took to, not staring at the door, or past it or though it, just staring, not seeing anything. Consequently he didn't really notice when someone came out of the room, or hear the protests coming from the occupant still within, or the keys being hastily shoved in the lock.

What snapped him out of his stupor was when his vision was obscured by the familiar face of a pretty young girl, with startling green eyes and chocolate brown hair who was smiling mischievously at him.

"Jen?" he said curiously sitting up. She stood up straight and continued to smile at him. Frowning he looked from the door to the keys in her left hand and back to the door again. "What are you up to?" he asked cautiously as he stood up and watched her suspiciously. She continued to smile serenely at him.

She took a step forward and her smile turned quickly from mischievous to seductive in a second. Before he could even blink her soft lips were on his. It was a few seconds before he hesitantly responded and he felt her smile onto his lips.

"Happy birthday Malcolm." She whispered.

He felt her right arm snake round his neck, pulling his head down closer and deepening their kiss, running her hand trough the short strands of hair at the back of his head. Unconsciously he slid his arm around her waist and gently pulled her closer so their bodies were flush against each other. Vaguely he registered the sounds of the keys hitting the floor and felt her other arm move to rest on his shoulder.

Hearing a strangled gasp they slowly moved their lips apart. Malcolm saw her glance to the left and then back, but he kept his eyes on her face and her bright green eyes. She smiled at him and gave him a chaste kiss before she extricated herself from his arms and bent down to pick up the keys she had dropped. He watched her as she glanced round the corner and looked both ways down the corridor.

"See ya' around Mal." She said with a small smile and stealthily made her way round the corner and out of sight. Only then did Malcolm's gaze shift across to the person who had interrupted them, and onto, horror of horrors, his mother. Even worse, his furious mother. Audibly gulping he opened his mouth to say something but she beat him to it.

"No wonder you weren't complaining about these sessions anymore." she hissed. "I don't know what kind of place they're running here, letting _residents_ run around unguarded like that." she said furiously. Malcolm could imagine what she was thinking. That her son had caught some 'crazy disease' from some loony nutcase girl when he was supposed to be being cured. He ground his teeth together angrily.

"This is the last time you will be coming here Malcolm." She said and began dragging him by the arm toward the elevator. He sadly glanced back at the waiting area, knowing it was unlikely he'd ever see it, or Jennifer again.

_Still_, he thought smiling, _that was the best birthday present I've ever had._

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**_The End_**

**Hello beautiful readers!**

Thank you for all the reviews of my little side story! **Drakcr, The Libran Iniquity, lieutenants-lady, HoVis, Saz, Tobie Holloway, Tata, JennMel, and FantasySci5** Much appreciated! So thank you! If you enjoyed this please review one last time and make my day!

**And if you liked Jennifer's characterand want to read more of her when she's all grown up, and seving on enterprise with our boys and girls, or like the Jen/Mal relationship, read 'Skeletons' and 'Back to Normal'! They rule! Seriously! (i'm soooooooooo modest aren't I?)**

For now, au revoir, and don't forget to REVIEW! thanks x x x


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